Conventional polyalkylene glycols (PAG) are widely used in the lubricants industry and are typically based on ethylene oxide (EO) or propylene oxide (PO) homopolymers or EO/PO co-polymers. Such PAGs provide good properties, such as excellent viscosity index and low temperature properties, which are important for certain lubricant applications. However, it is well known that EO, PO, or EO/PO based polymers are not oil miscible.
Oil soluble PAGs (OSP) based on a fatty alcohol initiator (e.g., dodecanol) with a mixed PO/butylene oxide (BO) feed using a potassium hydroxide catalyst have been developed. The higher viscosity ranges of such OSPs do not exhibit optimal solubility in API (American Petroleum Institute) Group III and IV base oils. In addition, it would be desirable to have OSPs across a large viscosity range which exhibits good solubility across a wide temperature range from low temperatures (e.g. −15° C.) to high temperatures (e.g., 80° C.), which is representative of lubricants in operation.